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I cannot tell you how stunned and disappointed I am with Care.com. If someone had told me that I would be so mistreated by an organization with “care” in its name, I wouldn’t have believed it. Let me tell you what happened.

In May, my husband and I hired a Care.com housekeeper with high hopes, though she proved herself to be terribly incompetent. Despite her glowing recommendations, during her 3 hours of work, she tried to wash clothes using fabric softener, put non-dishwasher safe pans in the dishwasher after being told that they needed to be washed by hand, and was terribly, terribly slow. After 3 hours, not one room had been cleaned. There was no way that she was going to be able to clean the entire house in the allotted 5 hours. Abruptly at the 3 hour mark, she said she was ill and was going to leave. On her way out she demanded payment in cash for the full 5 hours. We normally paid our previous housekeeper with a check, so her wanting cash was unexpected. She lied and said that she had talked to me about only accepting cash and then tried to add a 10% surcharge to the 5 hour wages.Right after she left, my husband found my daughter’s hand made sweater knit by Auntie Lisa in the dryer! She had been told that this, and many other items, needed to be hung to dry. That was the last straw for my husband who was there that day. He called and texted her to return the key to our house as we would not require her services any longer. She told him that she would get it to us later. She had to be pressured into returning the key that day. The whole experience was a disaster. Luckily we were able to find a wonderful housekeeper through word of mouth and we have been very pleased.

Yet, I returned to care.com earlier this week in order to post another position as I needed in-home after school care for my daughter. The same housekeeper from May came up in the childcare list. She had one 2-star review (out of 5) posted by another client who wasn’t too happy. At that point I decided to add a review of our experience with her. It was accurate but fair. I wrote a scaled down version of what I described above.The next day after reading the review, she used the Care system to send an abusive and insulting message to my husband (who she thought had authored the review). She then blocked our account from being able to reply to her through Care. In going through my old e-mails, I found the email address she used when she was hired in May. I replied, calling her on her unprofessional behavior. What followed was a long exchange where she said we were pigs, called my husband “special needs” and “gay,” commented on why we adopted our daughter, and then became racist, talking about “you black people.” She also threatened to call the police on me (I told her to please go ahead) and found some number for me through Vitals.com and said she was going to call my manager (I gave her their names and asked her if she needed their numbers as well.) Another threat she made was that she was going to get me banned from Care because of my manipulative lies.

As soon as Care.com opened yesterday, I called and spoke to a rep, telling him everything that had transpired. He was shocked. “This is beyond unprofessional,” he said, “it’s just WRONG!” He made copious notes and said that he would pass it all on to security. I asked if he wanted me to send the collected e-mails as evidence, but he said that security would contact me if they needed this information. He apologized to me on behalf of the company. I also warned him that she had threatened to get me banned. He told me that there was enough here for the security team to work on.

I hung up the phone and felt very satisfied that the matter would be handled appropriately. And then I received the following email from care.com yesterday evening:

Dear Liana,We are writing to inform you that we have terminated your Care.com membership.Under our terms of service, Care.com has the right, among other things and in its sole discretion, to terminate your membership for any reason or no reason, with or without notice. In addition, Care.com is authorized by the terms of service to notify other members with whom you have corresponded of this action.As indicated, Care.com may terminate a member for any reason or no reason. Accordingly, we have notified members that our decision to terminate your Care.com membership does not constitute and should not be interpreted or used as information bearing on your character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living.

I was dumbfounded! I was the victim here of retaliation for an unfavorable review. How could they terminate my membership? I still was looking for after school child care. And I had done nothing wrong!

I wrote asking for the reason that my membership was terminated. And this is what I was told:

Dear Liana,Pursuant to the Care.com Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, Care.com is not required to release the specific details as to why an account has been closed. However, below is a list of common reasons why an account may be terminated.As a membership-based online community, Care.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to remove a member’s Care.com membership for any reason or no reason, with or without notice. If we terminate your registration, we have no obligation to notify you of the reason, if any, for your termination.Reasons why we may remove a member from the Care.com community include, but are not limited to:

The individual does not meet membership criteria (e.g., is underage)

Care.com does not offer its services where the member is located

The member is not active in the service

Care.com determines that the services offered by the member are not being sufficiently utilized

The member has misrepresented himself or herself and/or has provided false information to Care.com

We were unable to verify the information the member provided when he/she registered

The member has posted or searched for inappropriate words/phrases and/or content on Care.com

The member has been alleged to have harassed other member(s) of Care.com

The member has been accused of, arrested for, or convicted of a crime

Allegations of theft, abuse, or neglect have been brought against the member

As stated above, Care.com may remove a member for any reason or no reason. Accordingly, any decision by Care.com to remove a member’s Care.com membership does not constitute and should not be interpreted or used as information bearing on the member’s character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living.I have refunded your last charge of $40 and your card will no longer be billed. Please note that the refund may take up to a week to show on bank or credit card statements.

I made clear that I had committed none of the listed violations, so there must be some reason that I was kicked out of the site. I called and spoke to a rep who basically said that they can kick me off the site without giving me any reason and there is nothing I can do about it. I am banned for life. I asked to speak to a manager. She said that one would contact me before the end of the day. I later found this in my inbox:

Dear Liana,As per your request I have reviewed your case and unfortunately the decision to close you account is irreversible. Furthermore, when we terminate an account we are not required to disclose the specific reasons as to why the account was removed. Per our Terms of Use, Care.com reserves the right, among other things and in its sole discretion, to terminate your membership for any reason or no reason, with or without notice.I apologize, but you will not be able to re-enroll on Care.com. If you have any further questions or concerns please refer to our Terms of Use. Section 5, which I have included below, provides the exact information pertaining to your concern.5. Termination of Registration In any event, Care.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate your access to all or part of the Care.com Site, to remove your profile and/or any content posted by or about you from the Site, and/or to terminate your registration in Care.com, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice. If we terminate your registration, we have no obligation to notify you of the reason, if any, for your termination.Best Regards, Benjamin Care.com Member Care Supervisor

This was just madness.

I tried reaching out to Sheila Mercalo (smercalo@care.com; @smercalo), the president of the company, hoping that there could be some reason applied to my situation. Alas no, I received this last e-mail:

Dear Liana,We have received your concerns addressed to Sheila Marcelo, and unfortunately, the decision to close you account is irreversible. Furthermore, when we terminate an account we are not required to disclose the specific reasons as to why the account was removed. Per our Terms of Use, Care.com reserves the right, among other things and in its sole discretion, to terminate your membership for any reason or no reason, with or without notice.I apologize, but you will not be able to re-enroll on Care.com. If you have any further questions or concerns please refer to our Terms of Use. Section 5, which I have included below, provides the exact information pertaining to your concern.5. Termination of Registration In any event, Care.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate your access to all or part of the Care.com Site, to remove your profile and/or any content posted by or about you from the Site, and/or to terminate your registration in Care.com, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice. If we terminate your registration, we have no obligation to notify you of the reason, if any, for your termination.This e-mail serves as our final communication on this matter.Best Regards, Janice Care.com Member Care Supervisor

So there you have it, my friends. I give an accurate but fair review, get harassed and threatened by the reviewee, and Care.com bounces me from its site, without cause. Please tell me that you think this is as ridiculous as I do.I guess no honest review goes unpunished.

Update: September 4, 2013

They banned my husband!

In the latest development from Caredotcom, they have proven themselves to be liars. I asked the customer service person that I spoke to on August 29, 2013 whether there was any issue with my husband’s creating a membership on Caredotcom. The representative said that my husband was indeed free to create an account. My husband then created an account on September 3rd. Today, September 4th, he receives a notice indicating that his account has been terminated from Caredotcom. Again they refuse to give an explanation for this termination. This is just not OK! They have gone from ridiculous to absurd. Will they next ban my sister or brother? My friends? We cannot let this stand.

Update: September 4, 2013

The Caredotcom petition just received an unbelievable response from Martha Fan, Co-Founder and VP Service Delivery and Operations at Care.com. She writes:

“We understand that Ms. Clark is upset by, and disagrees with, the decision that was made to remove her from the Care.com website. The removal of her membership is, however, in no way, a result of the caregiver feedback that she provided. Ms. Clark’s concerns regarding the caregiver in question were shared with the appropriate department and necessary actions pertaining to that caregiver were taken. We remove users from our site for a variety of reasons, and while we can’t share the details surrounding this particular account, we can say that we don’t make these decisions lightly. Upon enrollment, Ms. Clark acknowledged and agreed to our Terms of Use, which clearly state that Care.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate members access to all or part of the Care.com Site, to remove their profile and/or any content posted by or about them from the Site, and/or to terminate their registration in Care.com, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice. If we terminate their registration, we have no obligation to notify them of the reason, if any, for their termination. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause Ms. Clark and do hope that she is able to find the care that she is searching for. Regards, Martha Fan”

Ms Fan wants us to believe that my membership termination OCCURRING ON THE SAME DAY that I reported the horrible harassment from the housekeeper I had just reviewed is simple coincidence. They *just happened* to decide to terminate my membership for a reason *completely unrelated* to my having let them know THAT VERY DAY about the vicious retaliative harassment I suffered from the housekeeper I hired from their service! The woman who threatened me with the police, threatened to call my job, and said she would have me banned from caredotcom. No, the membership termination on that very day was just coincidence. Right…

33 Responses to “Care.com Doesn’t Care at All”

My personal experience with care.com was negative too, but I was seeking a job as housekeeper. I had just recently graduated and had a baby who was about 4 months. I couldn’t find a job in my graduate field.. So I decided to open up my own housekeeping business! So I created my care profile and so on I landed many jobs… And was quite happy until I started working for this lady who was so rude and picky. I ended up quitting “I told her I broke my arm” she ended up writing a horrible review…week before she said I was the best cleaning company she ver hired and she looked how her home look! So I ended giving up on care knowing people like her didn’t think twice before ruining my reputation even!! I’m just a single mom trying to work honestly to support my son…

I’m finding their customer service is horrid. For example, they insist I use my legal name (understandable that any EMPLOYER, not a website deserves to have my legal name) however, my professional name is not that. I don’t want every stranger on there seeing my legal name and my picture. I want to be able to go by the name that I use every single day of my life, and do business with. And I always inform potential employers of my legal name so they know that I am not hiding anything, but that I just choose to do business by another name. When I emailed them about continually rejecting my account due to this name (my middle name) which I have used since I was a kid, and even sign my license with, they were not at all understanding. I deleted my account. In 2009-2010 they were good, but the past few year they have been wanting too much information. I don’t necessarily trust them with my address, full legal name, phone number, etc. If they required my legal name but then let me choose to display a different name to users, that would be fine, but I NEVER go by my legal name and I don’t want thousands of people in my area seeing my name and picture. I don’t do it on Facebook either.

You are not alone and they are not just protecting caregivers. I am a nanny and your exact story just happened to me! It’s just the other way around. I decided to leave a family that I worked for because of the appalling behavior of their child. After trying to deal with it and sit down to discuss resolutions to the behavior, they made it look like they wanted to work on it and they loved me, didn’t want me to go. However, days later they terminated me on the spot which violated our written contract staring that either party was required to give 30 days notice. Then magically, I get an email from Care stating that my membership has been terminated, no reason given. This is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! And perhaps won’t change unless people like us start making some noise.

I, too have been “banned” from the care.com community. My experience was, as best i can figure out, telling an applicant who canceled her second interview, which had been scheduled at an inconvenient time in order to accommodate her.

It was on a Sunday evening, basically a “no-show” asking if she could reschedule for the next day. I’d been pretty uncertain about her, which was why I had scheduled her to meet my husband. I said something to the effect of “no thank you”. This wasn’t going to work out.

Same deal, I got the nix the next day. She was a bit of a fruitcake, so I can only imagine the distortion.

I wrote many emails after the “automatic” ones were shot out to me. The worst part was that I was in communication with some very high functioning women.

I told them that I live in a small town and that by my description, even if I hadn’t given my name, I was identifiable. Not too many child psychiatrists married to THE headache specialist in town.

They should be nocare.com. When I have gotten them on the phone, they were very young, unprofessional kids reading from a script. Too bad, that apart from going through expensive agencies they are the only game in town.

Not really. There is Craigslist. You just have to be very careful and screen out most responders.

Maybe reporting care.com to the BBB is a good idea.

It was pretty humiliating. I told them I get yearly invitations to be in th AMA, the APA, Who’s Who in America? But I’m not fit for their care.com family???

Reporting care.com to the BBB is pointless. They pay for their “clean” record to be talked up. Their annual $500 payoff to the BBB keeps their record spotless, allows them to delete customer/provider accounts as soon as a bad review or a complaint is posted, and allows them to keep stealing money for monthly dues. There are many class action suits against the company, but I highly doubt any of these will make it any farther than an arbitrator. Care.com is stacked with so many shark attorneys that just mentioning “I’ll sue you” will probably get you banned from the planet. They’re so shady and crooked. I won’t go into detail as to my experiences with the company and their so-called reliable services, but I will say that I closed my account and called it a day. I deleted my credit card information from the site, so if I see any charges from them on my statement I’ll be sure to head over to their HQ and demand my refund. The problem is we aren’t going over there in droves and knocking their doors down. That’s what needs to happen. I read a review that a 2-year old toddler was killed by a care provider that was supposedly background checked by care.com. The police arrested her and charged her for the death of the child by blunt force trauma. She was found with drugs and alcohol in her system and had prior arrests, convictions, and even did time. So if this is the kind of background check provided by care.com, they need to be arrested. The founder of the company should be sent to court and then obligated to do time. They don’t care about anything except their deep pockets.

Care.com encourages all members to report unsafe behavior on their site. I did so by reporting a family that was actually soliciting sex in their profile. I was upset that care.com would even “approve” this profile. I called care to report it and then 15 minutes later “my” profile was removed! When I called to complain and was crying because I had been a member for 7 years, all they said to me was repeated their so called policy of “we can remove members for any reason or no reason.” this is hogwash! They tell members to report when we see something unsafe and they even have a report button above profiles when viewing them, then when I do report a family I get punished and removed. COMPLETELY UNFAIR! I am a career nanny, this is my job for a living, 23 years in the field and 2 bachelor degrees in education and art, now unfortunately care is the site most families sign up on and I can’t find a job because I have been banned for life because I was looking out for the safety of other nannies, the young nannies, next time I will keep my mouth shut! See what you did care, you took a professional career nanny and punished her for looking out for the safety of other nannies. You claim you care about the safety of nannies abut you don’t, how could you even have approved a profile of that nature in the first place? SHAME ON YOU CARE.COM for punishing an innocent person who was trying to protect others. This is why people don’t stand up to others in the this world, this is exactly why, because people like you punish them for doing the right thing even though YOU encourage all your members to “do the right thing,” you should have a disclaimer by the report button “warning, if you report another member because of blatant solicitation of sex in their profile we will remove you the person who reported them because you should be punished for doing the right thing and caring for other…oh and well, we can remove any member for no reason or any reason!”
Thanks for NOT caring about your members safety at all and thanks for punishing a person for caring about the safety of others.

Your story is unacceptable on so many levels. How dare they ban you for such reporting.

Originally when I posted this thread, I spoke to a reporter who wanted more stories in order to take it further. Now that I have more people who have shared their experience with Care.com, I think I should reach back out to her.

IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN AND CARE ABOUT THEIR SAFETY AND YOUR OWN PEACE OF MIND, DO NOT USE CARE.COM.

In our opinion and based on our experience care.com is a VERY DANGEROUS place to find a care giver for your child. We would very strongly suggest that avoid them at all cost if you care about the safety and well being of your children. A family that we know hired a care giver through this company for their toddler. After hiring they found the person was a convicted pedophile. Does anything more need to be said? We have had four nannies from care.com. #1 was a 21 year old closet alcoholic. #2 stole from us. #3 addmitied to striking our 2.5 year old child while we were at work and we found she was an illegal alien. #4 completely misrepresented her availabilty and used her boyfriend as a reference claimng he was the husband in a family with four children for whom she had been a nanny. He finally contacted us out of guilt to admit to the lie. We have spoken to many, many people who have had similar experiences as well as over billing issues. Be aware that anyone can post theiir profile on care.com – ANYONE. Any company can create their own positive reviews and post them through the help of others including employees. Any company can create a professional looking web site. In the terms and conditions below they admit to only collecting a cell phone number and email address nothing more. We were very thorough in our interviews and in contacting references. They hold themselves responsible for nothing as is evident in the terms and conditions content below taken from their website. AVOID THEM IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN AND WANT PEACE OF MIND THAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE SAFE. THAT TRULY SHOULD BE THE DECIDING FACTOR. THERE SIMPLY IS NO GRAY AREA. Here is a portion of the content that relates to their user conditions. No legitimate company would go to such an extreme to cover their own liability. On the contrary, they would provide a degree of quality, confidence and peace of mind. Such is the character and actions of a trusted brand. This brand should not be trusted.

“Care Seeker and Care Provider content is primarily user generated, and we do not control or vet user generated content for accuracy as a general matter. Care.com does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of any information provided by Care Providers or Care Seekers on or off this Site. We may offer certain Registered Users the opportunity to verify certain information such as their email address or cell phone number. If we indicate that a Registered User has verified certain information, it means that the user has complied with the process we have established for verifying such information. However, we do not guarantee, nor do we represent or warrant as to, the accuracy of such information.

Care.com is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any Care Seeker, Care Provider or other user of the Site or Services, including without limitation the conduct of PIAP. Moreover, Care.com does not assume and expressly disclaims any liability that may result from the use of information provided on our Site.

Any screening of a Care Seeker or Care Provider and his, her or its information by Care.com is limited and should not be taken as complete, accurate, up-to-date or conclusive of the individual’s or entity’s suitability as an employer or care provider.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, care.com disclaims any liability whatsoever for any misstatements and/or misrepresentations made by any users of the site. Users do hereby represent, understand and agree to hold care.com harmless for any misstatements and/or misrepresentations made by or on behalf of them on this site or in any other venue.Care Seeker and Care Provider content is primarily user generated, and we do not control or vet user generated content for accuracy as a general matter. Care.com does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of any information provided by Care Providers or Care Seekers on or off this Site. We may offer certain Registered Users the opportunity to verify certain information such as their email address or cell phone number. If we indicate that a Registered User has verified certain information, it means that the user has complied with the process we have established for verifying such information. However, we do not guarantee, nor do we represent or warrant as to, the accuracy of such information.

Care.com is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any Care Seeker, Care Provider or other user of the Site or Services, including without limitation the conduct of PIAP. Moreover, Care.com does not assume and expressly disclaims any liability that may result from the use of information provided on our Site.

Any screening of a Care Seeker or Care Provider and his, her or its information by Care.com is limited and should not be taken as complete, accurate, up-to-date or conclusive of the individual’s or entity’s suitability as an employer or care provider.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, care.com disclaims any liability whatsoever for any misstatements and/or misrepresentations made by any users of the site. Users do hereby represent, understand and agree to hold care.com harmless for any misstatements and/or misrepresentations made by or on behalf of them on this site or in any other venue.

This is exactly what happened to me, but reversed! I am a nanny, and I was trying out a potential client. After spending a couple of days with them (Under no commitment; just a trial) I decided that the mother’s parenting style was completely different from my own outlook and that it would be a bad idea to take the job. I informed her, as politely as a could, that I wouldn’t be accepting the position. Then she goes and writes a HORRID review about me on the site. Care gives you the option to commit on a review, to thank someone or defend yourself, and I left a simple comment that said “unfortunately, it did not work out with this client. I’m very sorry.” and next thing I know, BOOM! Banned from the site for life! This is how I get my jobs! How I pay my bills! I have at least ten families who can vouch that I am a very responsible, respectful, reliable nanny! It’s RIDICULOUS!

Same thing happened to me. I left an emotional abusive employer and I got banned. How am I supposed to find housekeeping work now when everyone posts on care but Im banned? Customer service had the empathy of Hitler. Awful experience.

I am livid with care.com they too suspended my account because they claimed they ran a background check and I had a record which clearly was untrue. I currently work at a childcare center and was just trying to get occasional babysitting work and housekeeping. They had the background check provider contact me they were very rude and did not want to hear what I had to say even though I had a letter from my state/ FBI with fingerprints stating that I am eligible to work with children which is the state rule. They refused to reinstate my membership and gave me no explanation except that they can close an account at will . They are very unprofessional and I would not recommend them to anyone

WOW here I was going to join this organization but after reading all the information on this site I think I will go with another company to care for my friend. Thank you all so much for the time you took to write and give your stories. I sure learned a lot from all of you. This company appears on TV all the time. Boy I am ready to sign any petition that someone has prepared.

Care.com is the largest care giving networking site. It has 13 million customers in 16 countries. It is one of the fastest growing internet based companies. It is truly the fast food of the care giving world. Care.com misrepresents the site as being a verified safe site for parents to leave the kids/babies for the day.

I was a caregiver for many years and noticed that many complaints across the board were about terminated accounts…I did a little investigating sometimes by accident. I uncovered some shocking facts about the website.

I opened a second profile with a fake name, and address..I then opened a fake facebook account with the same name and linked the 2 with one push of a button..my name address and facebook was now considered verified and I was up and running with a fake pic also.

I then checked off all the qualifications I could. CPR/First aid, Doula the whole shabang and added a fake masters degree from a fake college. None of this was cross referenced or checked out by care.com

I then made fake connections with fake friends off my fake facebook..I then opened a 3rd account as a fake parent for $30..I contacted my fake profile with my fake parent profile and wrote a fake 5 star review.

I also ran a basic background check against my fake info and it came back verified and clean (no drivers license required) for $9. This does not work for a preferred back ground check. You need a stolen or borrowed drivers license to pull it off. The name on the account does not need to match the account as long as the address that was used to open the account matched the drivers license. ( Care.com allows caregivers to change their name to whatever they want) as long as the back ground check has you real name (should have your real name).lol

And there you have it a complete fake profile with reviews a background check and verified connections…. Care.com will verify your references..All is needed is 2 fake email address set up with 2 fake names..and a little help from family or friends with 2 phones. You answer the phone as a parent and verify the reference and then get back with Care.com yourself with the fake emails.

I did all of this is under an hour and was up a running live within 10 hrs of care.com approving that I checked out fine.

So now we know why accounts are terminated but its not for the reason you might think..I made that fake account 2 years ago its still there..Im not a criminal I have never used it. They terminate profiles/accounts because they are well aware this goes on. There are scamers, pedos and illegal activity and none of it is monitored. So when there is trouble, weather it be a caregiver or a parent..a pettty argument or something serious its all treated the same way..both parties are shut down that day..no warning no explanation. They dont know what is going on and dont care.

The most troubling thing other than your kids are left with convicts is that minors are allowed to baby sit on this site.

So if you would like to prove my theory go ahead a warn others as well. Not everyone is bad on this site but many are.

I wrote to you last May because I had a similar experience with care.com. A lot was going on (I had lost my brother to a rare sarcoma) and I didn’t remember where I’d posted and. Guess I hadn’t checked off anything asking for follow-up. Anyway, I didn’t even see that you were a doctor, but a few clicks and I found you.

I want to thank you for responding to me; I used Sittercity and found a great person. I need help for myself. Like you, I’m an MD, but disabled by health problems, so the person is to help me.

Thanks for the tip. Care.com sucks. I got all the same form letters you did, over and over, even on a new go around, it’s useless. Maybe the petition will help, or word of mouth,

I am SO disappointed with Care.com
I just got an email tonight that they had decided to terminate my account for life without reason.
I quit a job that I had been at for over 2 yeas since I had to report a parent to CPS for a multitude of reasons on top of having mental disorders. I even informed Care when I quit about the situation in case that parent was vengeful and we’re to slander me on the site.
How can Care.com treat people like this? I was trying to protect children and then this is how I get repaid for being a good member of the site and an excellent caretaker? I am definitely telling everyone that I know not to sign up for this website..both parents and nannies looking for work.

Care.com Promotes Abuse: My wife, Barb, is an incredibly gifted nanny as can be attested by the parents of local Swedesboro & Mullica Hill NJ children who literally hold her legs to prevent her from going home home each evening. She learned compassion and patience early on through our permanently disabled son – crippled by Cerebral Palsy at birth. The many hours she spent cultivating child education proved fruitful through three siblings that garnered top educational honors (one is in his 3rd year at MIT, another at St Joes, and the youngest recently accepted into top engineering colleges around the country).

In the beginning of 2014, Barb worked for a Mullica Hill mother who was so abusive to Barb and all who serviced her home (e.g. home builder, landscape contractor, electrical contractor, painter, etc.) that Barb would come home in tears almost daily under her employ. After a couple months, Barb could no longer tolerate her abuse and gave her notice. That woman was so vindictive that she trashed Barb’s reputation on care.com and with no chance to defend against allegations, Barb’s work profile was immediately terminated from that major job resource without a venue to defend herself. Barb never quit a job in her life and that work ethic, aside from the baby’s well-being, drove Barb’s attempts to modify the behavior of a narcissistic mother who could prove a challenge to Freud himself were he alive today.

In conclusion, care.com maintains a pay-to-play subscription model that indirectly allows unethical individuals such as this Mullica Hill woman/employer to conjure ‘God knows what’ to destroy the reputation of hard working individuals who, I might add, are not provided a process to defend themselves (e.g. employers who pay the subscription fees are given unbridled autonomy to destroy the livelihood of whomever they please).

We remain hopeful that an astute law firm will take up this cause to force care.com to amend their one-sided termination policy. At the very least, and without mentioning names, care.com should do a quick search on Mullica Hill mother-employers who have drawn an inordinate number of complaints. Guaranteed that one name will stand out amongst all others and that her profile will warrant further investigation. Subsequently, the nanny profiles that this deranged individual has so callously destroyed should be immediately reinstated.

I welcome comments from the nannies who have been displaced by the above Mullica Hill mother/employer. The mere fact that I need not mention her name should reassure those affected that together, we can legally put a stop to her unscrupulous behavior. In the mean time, let’s hope care.com fixes the gaping hole in their business model.

Care.com for a baby sitter is an absolute joke. We have 2 sitters,one girl for weekdays, and one girl for weekends both of them are wonderful, but sometimes something comes up, and they can’t make it. Our weekday sitter sometimes has a greater commitment, but she gives us plenty of notice when she does. so we turn to care.com to find a backup…EVERYTIME I line up a sitter for a friday 11 to 3 less than 12 hours before they are going to be here, they cancel.. todays was shes a professional nanny but doesn’t think her car will make it from lancaster to shirley ( for those who dont know its the next town over) I lined her up on monday mind you and just today shes figuring this out, another time, the girl fell down her stairs and had her mom text me an hour before she was going to be here, one time the woman showed up and actually yelled at Owen and was stern with him, and me the whole time, 3 times we’ve had people show up who had no idea how to change a diaper, and another time the girl canceled an hour before she was going to be here for a family emergency only for Anna to see on the girls facebook that she stayed home all day making shirts for her etsy site… Care.com is a total joke, for 12 sitters we found and lined up for work we found only one really good one, and its our weekend girl and she’s great.

I absolutely agree that for every dozen (or more) nannies you interview from care.com, you might find one good one. We has one nanny who was wonderful from there, but she was only looking for a summer job before going back to college. The rest have ranged from meh to no call no show situations. One nanny from there had a DWI arrest just a few months prior that I found out about through google! We had one great experience, but the rest have really soured me. Now I’m scared to leave an honest review on top of it, although I feel other parents should be able to be warned considering absolutely anyone can advertise their services!

I have 7 years of experience as a nanny, and 20 years babysitting. My references include a highly place executive at Amazon, the vice president of an education foundation, and at least two doctors among others. I’ve worked with ages 2-months to 12-years. Live-in and live-out. I’m CPR and First Aid certified, and college educated. I’ve handled twins and had regular schedules as high as 50 hours per week. I have a perfect driving record, a safe car, and an obsession with protecting, entertaining, and educating those in my care. I’ve had a preschool make a hard sell to me to take a position. I had a former employer offer me money to begin my own school. I try to be humble, but I know I’m pretty great. I wouldn’t need to read the above to know that. I’m told it with every smile I see and hug I receive.

Care.com terminated my profile this past Monday.

No reason given of course. It appears they send the exact same text to parents and caregivers alike. I can’t help but mentally note that it was only a couple weeks or so back that I reported a few parents for posting jobs with wages that amounted to slave wages. I got a form letter response from Care.com about “negotiating wages”. Err, I wasn’t interested in any of the positions. In addition, last week I noticed something was off about my response stats, and I contacted them about it. My response stat was 90%, and I believed it should be 100%.

I’m not sure which was the greater sin for them. Was it daring to suggest they put some effort towards screening job postings / not allow said postings to violate the law / take advantage of a naive newcomer? Was it daring to suggest their system may not be counting responses in an intuitive or correct manner?

Care.com edits the profiles of caregivers. I wonder how many parents know that. Care.com usually claims it is for structure like grammar and spelling, not content. This is simply not true. They regularly mess with content. Unnecessarily removing words, and sentences, in such a manner as to change the message(s) the given caregiver is trying to convey to a prospective employer. It’s not as if my bio text was terribly long either. It was 320 words. Everything I’ve written so far in this post to the point of the last period in this very sentence is a total of 416 words. You’ve already read more!

Perhaps that is my sin. I dared to edit my profile in mid-January with this request at the top, “Care.com, please do not edit my profile. Your edits end up changing the very meaning of what I’m trying to say, and my presentation should be my own. I’ve taken my time with what I’ve written below, and would like it to be left as is. Ergo, I would with all the respect I could possibly convey, request that your only edit be to remove this note to you. Thank you.”

Much to my surprise, they actually did make their only edit the removal of that note at the time I submitted the profile. I have a hypothesis to put forth here. There is a common thread throughout all of these terminations, and that is expediency. I must wonder if Care.com is not interested in whether or not there is any problem, or who has done who wrong, or anything of the like, but rather simply offended that any of us had the gall to contact them. They must really despise any use of their customer service. What else could possibly explain their behavior?

In any case I’m fairly certain they don’t care what an assault on a person’s livelihood termination is. I’m fairly certainly they don’t understand or care to understand the power they wield. I say this because anyone who did understand wouldn’t behave like this. A company that understood would review their actions regularly. They would have an appeal process. They would give the reasons for termination so as to provide a chance to learn whether or not they got something out of context, or if it was an error in their system, or what have you. That isn’t Care.com.

This company did the same thing to me. They let a babysitter without a valid background check, and was drugged out of her mind be featured on the website, and I was banned. It’s crazy and children are at risk!!

Care.com is currently under investigation by the federal trade commission for misrepresenting as a safe verified community. 2 families in the USA have lost babies to criminal babysitters already. That is just the 2 that made in into the news. There are mostly likely many more families that have come home to dead kids or babies. background checks are coming back clean with no records found because Care.com uses a cut rate .com service for background checks and NO real Live ID is seen by anyone. Any borrowed DL# can be used. PLEASE WARN PEOPLE TO STAY AWAY!!
Care.com will send out this auto generated message if a family reports that a child has died. “We at care.com reserve the right to remove anyone at anytime for any reason or no reason” Refer to section 5 in our disclosure…Imaging opening your email as you plan a funeral for a baby and read that?

Well, I really thought it was me, I got a call today from one of my clients saying she received an email from Care.com telling her my account had been terminated.
My only form of income is being a Nanny and I am self supportive and live alone, I have used this site for 6 years exclusively. My current job is ending at the end of July so I am preparing to start the application process knowing it takes time to find the right fit.
Care.com has managed to take away my reviews, background check, and my ability to offer my services to families that would greatly benefit. As well they have deliberately ruined a stellar reputation that I work very hard to maintain. FOR NO REASON AT ALL EXCEPT THAT THEY WANTED TO.
I guess they prefer to have clients that work illegally, can’t spell or even construct a sentence, scammers, thieves, and pedophiles, because that seems to be the direction they are going.

Wow… im sorry. judging from all the posts on this site, we are far from alone.Care.com ripped the rug from under my feet as well with particularly ugly consequences. Maybe we should all get together and file a class action! I am a professional senior care provider with an MA and dozens of happy clients’ testimonials over the course of 10 years working in the field.. I woke One morning to check my employee / employer notes, only to find my account has been terminated with no warning or explanation. I, like a previous poster, ended up in tears with a so called customer support representative, telling her I was currently acting as an advocate in a senior abuse case being heard in trial and I NEEDED the notes I had been sending back and forth with my employer documenting key aspects of the abuse. I got the same dry scripted response as mentioned above by everyone else. I was literally pleading, telling her that I had my credit card in my hand and would do whatever it took to get reinstated just long enough to retrieve my notes. She told me there was no way. Thank you care.com for compromising my outstanding service career, along with an elder abuse court case. Bravo. Can’t wait to see what you guys do for encore. I guess I am partially to blame for not reading the small print, but it still seems extremely costly and unjust as a policy. Do youhave any ideas on what can be done legally?

Also,once your account is up and running. the new account could take 24 hrs to be approved. Use a new picture for yourself. You will be able to use the home computer or IP address that you normaly use to login once your up and running and approved.